


are those new suspenders?

by villiageidiot



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-27
Updated: 2011-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-06 05:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/villiageidiot/pseuds/villiageidiot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine's not going to be his normal dapper self until he's up to speed on the whole ridiculous situation and until someone -- anyone -- notices his damn suspenders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	are those new suspenders?

: : :

"You didn’t vote for me," Kurt says flatly as Blaine walks up to his locker. "I can’t believe you didn’t vote for me."

Blaine blinks. "Wait. What?" He's all excited to show Kurt his new suspenders and this is definitely not how he thought the conversation would start.

"I had a platform," he responds, ignoring him. "I was going to make changes."

Blaine tilts his head and says, "Um, I’m confused. What?" Because Kurt isn't even _noticing_ his new suspenders.

Kurt narrows his eyes and Blaine can actually see his tone change from incredulous disappointment to like, angry disappointment. Blaine's a little apprehensive about the whole thing but he also thinks it's pretty fantastic that he's able to immediately pick up on his boyfriend's mood shifts after only eight months of dating. They are clearly the best couple ever.

"She only cared about the stupid NYADA application. And yes, I get that this would have looked striking on her transcript but seriously, Blaine?"

Blaine hooks his thumbs under his suspenders and waits for his boyfriend to notice because Kurt said the color brought out the gold in Blaine's eyes and _surely_ that has to put him in a better mood.

"You helped me write the campaign speech, remember?" Kurt asks, voice rising. He turns away to focus on something in his locker and yeah, apparently that's a no-go on the gold in Blaine's eyes.

He looks helplessly to Finn (who won’t make any eye contact and Blaine's smart enough to know that _that_ little fact is probably key to understanding this conversation).

"Plus, I’m your boyfriend, Blaine. That should mean something," Kurt continues.

He stares at the back of Kurt's head, willing him to turn around because why will no one notice the truly impressive suspenders, _god_.

"I don't get you," he says, finally turning to face Blaine. He looks like, _way_ mad and Blaine realizes that maybe it's not the best time to focus on the suspenders. It's also probably not the right time to compliment Kurt for the shiny new pin on his lapel. (A sparkly snowflake; how cool is that?)

Kurt narrows his eyes. "Just tell me why. At least give me that courtesy."

Blaine blinks. "Okay, honestly? I really don’t understand anything that's happened in the last three minutes."

Kurt huffs and slams his locker. "Whatever."

"Okay, so you’re mad at me," he deduces. "Give me a minute; I’m still trying to catch up here."

"You didn’t vote for me," he repeats, noticeably more frustrated this time around. "What kind of boyfriend even _does_ that?"

Finn coughs and Blaine kind of wonders why he's even still there.

Kurt storms away but really, he's a little to polished to _storm_ so it ends up looking like angry walking.

"I bought new shoes, too," Blaine tries weakly, waggling his spectacular new boat shoes in the direction of Kurt's angry walking. But he's already turned the corner so Blaine lets out a resigned sigh and slightly mourns the failed inauguration of his suspenders and/or boat shoes. After a minute, he turns to look at Finn, who's still staring at his own feet.

"So Finn," he says slowly. "Why does Kurt think I didn’t vote for him?"

He shrugs and doesn’t respond.

"Finn," he repeats, keeping his voice even.

Finn swallows and finally pulls his gaze from Blaine's aforementioned sweet boat shoes. "I’m not totally sure how he got that impression, actually."

Blaine raises an eyebrow. "No? Okay, then let’s discuss what you two were talking about before I walked up. What did I miss?"

"We weren’t talking at all," Finn answers. "I was talking to Rachel and I think Kurt heard us and then Rachel got pissed and she stomped away."

"Right," Blaine says, still trying to figure out what Finn’s not saying. "Well, what were you two fighting about?"

He sighs and tries not to answer but Blaine waits him out and pulls slightly on his bowtie. (It's not a _new_ bowtie but he still wants to look good for when Kurt stops being angry enough to appreciate Blaine's Wednesday morning attire.)

Finn looks away before answering. "She found out that I voted for Kurt as class president and she got super angry."

"What?" Blaine asks because _good god_ why can’t he understand what the hell is going on? And seriously, does _no one_ care about his new suspenders?

"Hey, he asked me first," Finn says, incredibly defensive and sort of oblivious to the real issue at hand. "And he’s my brother. I think that’s what family is probably supposed to do. Like the Kennedys, right? I’m sure they all voted for each other back in the olden days."

"The Kennedys?" Blaine repeats, baffled. "What are you even _talking_ about? Why won’t anyone explain _anything_ to me?" He's a smart kid; he should not be having this much difficulty.

"Dude," Finn responds, his voice a little louder. "Calm down."

"Calm down?" Blaine replies (super calmly, for the record). "My boyfriend just did an angry walk and his brother is talking about the Kennedys and they’re both just like, yelling random things at my face and I’m _confused_ and no one will explain anything which means I’m going to spend all of fifth period trying to come up with ways to make my boyfriend un-mad at me and god, I don’t even know what made him mad in the first place and trying to get an explanation from _you_ is like trying to pull really tiny teeth."

Finn stares at him, wide eyed.

"And no one cares about my new suspenders which is a really underwhelming response," he sighs quietly. "Or my boat shoes, for that matter."

"Whoa," Finn responds, still giving Blaine a wary look.

Blaine narrows his eyes and returns the stare because he is just so not in the mood to be his normal dapper self right now. In fact, he's not going to be his normal dapper self until he's up to speed on the whole ridiculous situation and until someone -- anyone -- notices his damn suspenders.

"Fine, okay, whatever," Finn says eventually. "Rachel found out I didn’t vote for her and she was super angry and told me I was a bad boyfriend and asked what kind of boyfriend even _did_ that. So I panicked. Are you happy now?"

"Go on," Blaine encourages. "Explain to me what _panicked_ means."

Finn swallows and looks away. "It means that I said whatever, a lot of boyfriends probably do that. And then I said that Blaine didn't vote for his boyfriend, either."

Blaine takes a deep, patient breath. "So to clarify, you're not sure how Kurt got the impression that I didn't vote for him after saying _out loud_ that I didn't vote for him?"

"I didn't mean for it to blow out of proportion like that, okay? I just wanted Rachel to not be pissed."

"Right, right, naturally," Blaine says, nodding. "So you threw me under the bus. That's a totally rational decision right there."

"Yeah," Finn sighs in relief. "Thank you for understanding."

Blaine cocks his head.

Finn blinks at him.

They stare at each other until the bell rings and shoot, now Blaine's probably got a tardiness detention.

He gives Finn one last withering look.

They're quiet.

"I really dislike you and your choices, Finn," Blaine says finally after several long moments. "You might be the worst future brother-in-law ever."

He turns and heads towards his Chem class but it's super undramatic because Blaine hasn't quite nailed the angry walking thing quite yet.

:::

Blaine finds Kurt after seventh period and leans against the locker next to his. And geez, he really needs to find a better picture of himself to replace the one in Kurt's locker because that blazer is terribly unflattering. (Also, he's suspender-less.)

Kurt turns to look at him and gives a small smile. "Sorry for earlier," he apologizes. "I shouldn't have reacted so -- I don't know -- so violently."

"Violently?" is all Blaine can think of to say because _yeah right._ If Kurt can't pull off 'storming away', he most certainly can't pull off 'violently'.

"You can vote for whoever you want, right? No matter how nonsensical that decision may be."

"Right," Blaine agrees. "Totally." And then hooks his thumbs under his suspenders again because if Kurt's not angry anymore, surely he'll notice them now.

"Even though I had a _platform_ and a _cause_ and actually put some thought behind my campaign instead of starting a half-naked flash mob in the hallways," he continues before visibly stopping himself.

Blaine unhooks his thumbs and drops his hands because maybe cheering up your boyfriend is a little more important than having your boyfriend ogle you in the hallway.

"I voted for you, you know," Blaine says. "Of _course_ I voted for you."

"You -- what?"

Blaine smiles and wonders if the hearts in eyes are actually physically _showing_.

"But Finn said --"

"You know what, Kurt?" Blaine interrupts, raising his eyebrow. "I'm not going to comment on the fact that you took Finn seriously before even talking to me. _Finn_. I'm just gonna let that one go this time."

Kurt blinks at him. "Valid point. I don't know why I thought --"

"It's fine," Blaine responds, waving him off.

Kurt closes his locker and leans back against it, sighing regretfully. "We could have made some _changes_ , you know?"

Blaine doesn't say anything about how the whole school is filled with a bunch of toolbags that voted him as their prom queen and so really, it's sort of unsurprising that they didn't take him seriously as their potential class president. "How many votes did you get?" he says instead.

He shakes his head. "You, Finn, Mercedes, and myself. So I think four."

Blaine frowns and shuffles his new boat shoes (still un-noticed but he's made peace with it). "Ouch."

Kurt shrugs. "It's better than Rachel's two votes."

He doesn't say anything but reaches down for Kurt's hand.

"I think Finn did it out of familial loyalty and Mercedes just doesn't like the other two candidates. So you're the only one that voted on _principle._ "

Blaine frowns and looks over at Kurt. "Yeah, about that."

Kurt raises an eyebrow in response.

"Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt and assuming that I'm more honorable than I actually am but admittedly, I didn't vote for you because of the cause or because of your ridiculously persuasive campaign speech. And it wasn't exactly out of boyfriend loyalty, either."

Kurt waits. "Oh?"

"It's just -- you would have been president," Blaine continues. " _President_. I think I have a thing for men in power."

Kurt tries not to smile.

He tilts his head and thinks it over. "Actually, I think I just have a thing for _you_ in power," he clarifies.

"Power," Kurt echoes. "It's just a class president, Blaine. I wasn't running for Emperor."

"I could have told people 'hey my boyfriend is _president_ '," he says wistfully. "Wes would have wept with jealousy."

"You," Kurt laughs. "You are one of my favorite people."

"Thank you," he replies, straightening up and turning to stand in front of Kurt.

He cocks his head as he looks at Blaine intently. "Are those new suspenders?"

Blaine glances down at himself and thinks _thank god, finally_. "Oh these? I can't remember. I think maybe."

Kurt hums. "They're perfect. Your eyes look fantastic."

"Well, thank you," Blaine says, subtly shuffling his feet.

"Excellent shoes," Kurt adds, looking down. "I forbid you from ever wearing tall socks again."

And okay, that might be too far. "It November in Ohio. I'm not sure that's entirely doable."

Kurt meets his eyes. "We all make sacrifices, Blaine. Come here; your bowtie is crooked."

He reaches out to straighten it and sort of pulls Blaine in way closer as he does until they're only inches apart. Understandably, he decides on the spot to make sure his bowtie is crooked every single day.

:::

"You're awful," Kurt tells Finn as they head into Mr. Schuester's classroom. Blaine takes a seat next to Mike in the back but Kurt remains standing in front of Finn. "Mr. Schue, today I'd like to sing a song about terrible brothers."

Mr. Schuester watches the two of them glare at each other. "Do you have a specific song in mind, Kurt?"

He lets out a frustrated sigh and doesn't take his eyes off of Finn. "No. But I'll have one prepared for tomorrow."

"Okay," Mr. Schuester says slowly as Kurt makes his way to the back and takes a seat next to Blaine.

Finn turns around to face them. "I'm sorry I ruined it and caused the whole underwhelming suspender response, Blaine. Not cool. Because those really are some neat suspenders."

"Well, thank you, Finn." He considers reevaluating the worst future brother-in-law comment.

"Yeah, those really are great," Mike says. "Are they new?"

"Yes," Blaine answers, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Your eyes look super bright," Tina adds.

"Thank you," he says. "I also have new shoes."

A few of them hum appreciatively and overall, Blaine considers the day a success. Mr. Schuester starts the lesson and Kurt looks over to scrutinize the suspenders a little more.

"We're by far the best dressed couple in the school," he says. "But New York is an entirely different playing field. We may have to step up our game."

"Well, we still have two years until I follow you --"

"Join me," Kurt corrects.

"Right, until I join you in New York. We'll just have to keep on top of it until then."

"Yes," he agrees very seriously.

Blaine reaches over to straighten Kurt's lapel. "In the meantime, you can keep wearing these spectacular pins and I'll keep my eye out for classy suspenders."

"I like the way you think," he says with a smile.

He gives Kurt a smile of his own. "We are clearly the best couple ever."

"I agree." And then, "I really like those suspenders. Maybe -- maybe we should go make out in your car."

Blaine swallows. "Yes."

It's an easy equation: new suspenders plus an observant Kurt equals afterschool backseat makeouts. Blaine doesn't care how much suspenders cost; he'll be buying a new pair like, every single day. Because the way Kurt's eyeing him? Totally worth it.


End file.
